LG BD550

Pros: If all features work, as advertised on the outside of the box it, (LG BD550) comes in,....no complaints.

Cons: I bought two BD550's at the same time, (AT wal-mart) early December, 2010. The cashier told me I had 90 days to come back, if I decided to buy an extended warranty. I had given one unit to a friend, in early January, 2011. After the second day of his usi

Summary: I bought the LG BD550 for the NETFLIX instant movie watching capability only. If it did not have the NETFLIX logo on the list of 'Netcast abilities' that it performs, listed its the box, I would not have bought it. I have plenty of DVD players, and can wait on blu-rays. In the middle of this month, (March, 2011) after slightly more than ninety days of being able to watch NETFLIX instant movies, that feature suddenly, completly stopped working....When I click on the NETFLIX logo, as I had done countless times before, when things were working fine, what shows, is a red screen, with a NETFLIX logo and a message that says ..."loading" for approximately 40 to 50 seconds,...then the machine completely turns itself off. I tried whatever the LG customer service had to suggest, (which was only de-activate and, or re-activate, and re-register) several times. Still, the only feature that I had paid my hundred, and two dollars for is not working. When I asked the LG guy on the phone, about the 'warranty',...he simply said,...send us sixty-nine dollars, and ninety-nine cents. I (very condensed version) told him that I would have to think about it. At this point of my story is the part that really raises a bigger question, or two.....After being told it would take $69.99 to take advantage of my warranty on the LG BD550, I went back to Wal-Mart to see if they had any more BD550'S and for what price. They had less than five left in one of the two local stores. Both Wal-Marts had taken down their display models of this model, and one had none in stock, I wonder why. Out of curiosity, as much as anything, I decided to pay $98.** for a new LG BD550 fresh in the box, rather than send a check to LG customer service, and wait for who knows how long... I got the new machine home, out of the box, all hooked up, guess what? It worked exactly as much as my first LG BD550, (it's less than four months old) so this brand new, right out of the box, LG BD550 played DVD's ok, in the 'Netcast' functions, it played Youtube fine, it ran the 'Accuweather' feature fine, (even let me select a city, and started to give it's weather)...the DIVX TV, works fine, just like on my'old machine', as well as the VUDU, and Cinema Now, pay to watch movie features worked...So both machines, one bought a few days ago, in what appeared to be an unopened box, and one that worked 100% for about ninety days, both appear to have good ethernet connections for all the 'Netcast' features except for NETFLIX, the only feature that i bought the machine for. At least I can get my money back on the one I bought last week, unless Wal-Mart changed their policy since then. So far the second machine that my friend got still works...When I talked to someone at NETFLIX today ,they were nice enough, but could not offer any real help, other than saying they were putting a 'feed' alert on it,or something like that....Needless to say, if you still feel compelled to get an LG blu-ray player, pay for at least two years extended warranty in your initial transaction. But that's not even fair, because I have had computers, DVD players, and other electronics devices longer than ten years, and they still work, completely...My conversations with LG, AND WAL-MART are to be continued....March 29th 2011...

Updated on Mar 30, 2011

I think the LG BD550's that LG sold to Wal-Mart,... came off of the LG 'TRAINEE' PRODUCTION LINE... Why do I think this?....Out of three of the LG BD550'S that I paid for new, out of a box since December, ('10)...all three lost, or never had the function of playing NETFLIX instant movies. Which was the only reason, I spent the $100.** for each machine at all anyway.